If you want to read some of the most moving, witty, evocative writing on the Internet, read Marc Barnes. I’ve highlighted him in the past, and I’m sure I will many times more–his stuff is that good. I would reverence and hail his writing if it came from a 50-year old, but knowing it comes from a 17-year old blows me away.
Marc is two parts Chesterton, one part Flannery, and five parts dreamer, and in his latest post he channels all three. He recounts a man’s chance encounter with a peculiar crowd and their equally odd leader: a discovery quite literally through the back door. As in all the best stories, this one is drenched with wonder:
I was sitting in the bar, a little miserable and bored, idly flicking peanuts at the bartender, when the door burst open and a man, breathing heavily, soaked and tousled from the storm outside took the seat beside me, ordered a rather inappropriate amount of whiskey and began to weep, snort, and otherwise express disbelief in some event that had–assumedly–just occurred. Thinking his mother must have died, and, wishing to do him some kindness, I asked “Rough night?” with what I believed to be a heartening smile and encouraging lift of the eyebrows.
He turned slowly, fixing me with a wild eye, and I realized that he was a foreigner. “You have no idea.” he whispered hoarsely, in an accent I could not place. “Absolutely no idea. The things that go on in this country! The things, the strangeness!” His face was full of a terrible fear. I urged him onwards with a dip of my head. He obliged me.
Read the rest of the story here.
(Marc also contributed a great reflection to Jen Fulwiler’s Our Father series. Check it out!)
Update: Marc provides some background on why on he wrote the story here.